RICHARD (A BAD BOY ROMANCE)

–Nikki Wild

_
ONE
_

Jessica

I usually didn’t like
parties. Everything was always so loud and the concept of personal space seemed
a foreign idea. I didn’t like them one bit. They were messy, and I hated messy
things. I didn’t get to be where I was by letting my life get messy. But when
it came time for graduation I needed some way to say goodbye to all my friends,
and throwing a party seemed like the perfect way to do it.

The party itself wasn’t my
idea. I owed that all to my best friend, Becky Sanders, who among other things,
was the only person I’d ever see again after tonight. Even the house we were
using was Becky’s—her parents’, anyway. And despite all my misgivings about the
idea, somehow everything actually seemed to be working out in my favor.

The music was a mix of the
latest pop artists, some of whom I’d never heard of in my life, though Becky
promised me that they would go over well with the guests. I’d spent most of my
high school life with my head in a book, surfacing only to practice my violin
and maybe attend a
mathlete
event for the school. I
didn’t listen to much music outside of Chopin or Mozart, let alone artists like
Katy Perry or Lady Gaga, but the guests all seemed to be enjoying themselves,
mingling and talking with one another. I was proud of myself, in fact, for
putting on what I felt was a rather sophisticated affair as opposed to some
disorganized orgy where the partygoers spent the whole night grinding on one
another.

“So, what do you think?”

I turned toward Becky’s
voice, offering her a faint, cautious smile. It was a hard question to answer,
since I was thinking quite a lot, but she more than likely wanted my opinion on
our little soiree.

“It’s… good. I think,” I
said around another awkward smile. Her own smile faltered, and I quickly tried
to rephrase. “I
mean,
I’m having a good time. It’s a
really nice party. I just… I’m not used to being around so many people at once.
I mean, I know them all—most of them, anyway—but still, being in a crowd like
this puts me a little on edge.”

Becky’s smile returned as
she pushed a lock of hair back behind her ear.
“How is it that you managed to score a
boyfriend before me? You’re like the queen of awkward, Jess. I mean, you hardly
ever go out, and then you get a hunk like Michael, of all people, to fall for
you.”

I felt my stomach drop as
she mentioned my ex-boyfriend’s name. It had only been a few weeks since our
last breakup, and the wounds were still fresh. I swallowed, remembering how
things with Michael had been. Bittersweet was probably the most appropriate
term to describe our relationship—mostly bitter, toward the end.

“I don’t really want to
talk about Michael right now,” I said, wrapping myself up in my arms. “It’s bad
enough you invited him.”

“You two are so cute
together, though!” she said, looking into the crowd where Michael was holding
court with a few of his friends. “I thought having him here would help you to
patch things up with him.”

Unlike most of the people
who ran in our circles, Michael didn’t fit the typical stereotype, especially
not in looks. He was brilliant, charming, handsome, and had an impeccable sense
of style. It didn’t hurt that he had parents who had spoiled him from the day
he was born. But there was a much darker side to the handsome man that was
Michael Claiborne.

“I don’t think I want to
patch things up with Michael, Becky,” I said, looking toward the handsome young
man one more time.

“Oh, it can’t have been
that bad. Look, if you’re not interested do you mind if I give him a try?”

“Trust me, you don’t want
anything to do with Michael,” I said, giving her a stern look. “Michael is bad
news.”

“Well tell me why!” she
complained, pouting like a scolded child. “Why would you dump him?”

“I said that I don’t want
to talk about it,” I replied, lowering my voice to a hiss. “Please, can we talk
about something else?”

Becky looked at me for a
moment, scrunching up her face. She seemed utterly baffled by my refusal to
discuss what she could only assume was a simple breakup—but it had been so much
more than that. Michael had brought out a side of me that I felt ashamed of, a
side that I never wanted to see the light of day for as long as I lived.

“Sorry,” she said after a
moment of silence. “I’m just so used to you confiding in me that it felt weird
that you’d keep something from me.”

“It’s just… not something
I’m completely ready to talk about yet,” I said, reaching out to gently touch
her shoulder. “And besides, you already know all of my secrets as it is. I deserve
to have one of my own.”

“You’ve got the
best
secrets, though,” she giggled,
biting on her lip. “Ok, forget about Michael… What about that…
Other
thing…”

“Becky—” I began, but
before I could finish the sentence she was already talking a mile a minute.

“How have you not even
tried yet? I mean, you have to see him every day, and now that Michael and you
aren’t a thing, what’s stopping you? He’s like the hottest guy in school! Even
compared to Michael. How are you not hitting that, girl?”

“There are people around,”
I whispered, trying to stop her before she said something I’d regret. “We can’t
talk about that here! We can’t talk about that anywhere!”

“But your brother is so
fucking hot
,” she countered.

“
Step
brother,” I corrected, pulling her away from a group of guests.
“And I
know
he’s hot, Becky!”

“But you want him! I mean,
you tell me all the time how you think about him while you’re—”

“Hush!” I tried to silence
her again, but she just grinned.

“God, I don’t get you,
Jessica. How are you able to resist a hunk of meat like that? You’re not with
Michael anymore. You
know
you could
do it.”

“He’s my brother!”

“
Step
brother,” she corrected this time, a smirk on her face. “You
two aren’t
actually
related. He
doesn’t even have the same last name!”

“But it’s still weird,” I
said, trying to wave the subject away. “And my mom would flip if she found out
I had the
hots
for Richard…”

“But you do have the
hots
for him! You have the
hots
for Dick!”

“Oh God… Don’t call him
that!” I replied, blushing hard.

“Everybody calls him that,
and not just because of his attitude either. I
know
you’ve heard the rumors,” Becky said, holding her hands apart
as if she were telling me about a big fish she’d caught.

“It gets bigger every time
you do that,” I laughed.

“Cynthia said it’s
pierced
,” Becky replied with a crooked
smile.

“Cynthia’s been reading too
many naughty books. Does
every
stepbrother need to have a pierced penis?”

“Hey, the least you could
do is find out if the rumors are true. It’s not like you two are going to see
each other again. He’s going to Yale and you’re staying local at UCLA. I mean,
really, what’s the harm in it?”

“It’s
weird
, Becky!” I insisted, glancing around to make sure no one was
listening. “And besides, Richard
hates
me. We’ve never gotten along ever since his dad moved in. He’s the stepbrother
from hell.”

“Yeah, he is kind of a
dick
, isn’t he?”

“Stop it!” I said, hitting
Becky on the arm.

“Fine, but seriously, I
think he likes you.

“Absolutely not!” I said,
shaking my head. “It’s just my stupid crush, Becky. And once I’m at UCLA, I can
spend my time doing more productive things like actually getting my degree and…”

“Then your masters and then
your doctorate,” she finished for me. “I know, you tell me that all the time.
So sue me for wanting my best friend to have a good time, especially at her own
party.”

“It’s
our
party,” I said, giving her a much warmer smile this time.

“Yeah,” she said, sighing
wistfully.

I rolled my eyes. “What is
it now?”

“Here we are, talking about
all your success with the opposite sex,” she said, looking around at the other
guests. “And here I am without ever even being kissed once in my life.”

“You’ve
been kissed! What about Tom—”

“No,” she interrupted.
“Never speak of that again. Nothing about what he did to me was a kiss. I still
have nightmares about what that mouth did to my face.”

I couldn’t help but laugh,
much to Becky’s chagrin. Becky had always been a completely hopeless romantic,
desperate to find someone who would sweep her off her feet and take her to some
far off fairytale castle. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that things like
that never happened in real life.

“Regardless,” I said, “I
hereby promise that you, Becky Janine Sanders, will be kissed before the night
is over.”

“You really think that can
happen?” she asked me, her eyes going a little wider.

I nodded, giving her
another smile before we turned toward the crowd of partiers.

“I do,” I said. “There are
plenty of guys here who would die to get some alone time with you, Becky. We
can find you someone to kiss before the party is over. I swear on our
friendship that I’ll get you kissed tonight.”

“That’s a promise you’d
better not break to me, Jess,” she said, an enormous smile lighting up her face
as we looked over the crowd of mingling men and women.

“Anyone you’re interested
in?” I asked, searching for a suitable guy with at least some knowledge of when
to bathe. It might have sounded catty, but when it comes to the intellectual
community at a high school, hygiene and social graces usually didn’t come along
with genius level IQs. Becky’s options were fairly slim, though judging by the
smell, thankfully most of our guests had at least taken the time to put on
deodorant tonight.

“Anyone with a pulse, at
this point,” she said with a sigh. Becky’s standards for men were fairly high,
but her social standing as one of the “nerds” limited her dating options to our
own “class” of students. It was one of the reasons I was so ready for college.
A fresh start. No preconceptions. No cliques. Or at least I hoped there
wouldn’t be…